We're in Heaven
by Crazee Pyro
Summary: A single letter can entirely change the plans of a team just wanting to have a normal Valentine's day. Will these teammates be able to find time to celebrate the holiday with one another? Or will a split-second BBA meeting ruin their plans?


**Hello, everyone. I am SO sorry this fic is posted so late. I've been really busy lately, and my computer's been having problems. School isn't helping either. But I'm glad you've chosen to read this Valentine's Day fic. I really hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I own Saitori and everything she does, whether it's bonehead or awesome. But I don't own the song "Heaven". **_**Twin Psychos**_** owns Tenshi and Kaze. **_**Invisible Love**_** owns Sakura and Hiniku. Tenshi and I need to patent the sourhearts. XD**

**I'd like to dedicate this fic to my friend, Hiniku Shinderu. She and Tenshi have been hounding me to post for weeks. Unfortunately, I just now got the chance to post. Anyway, I want to wish you another Happy Birthday, H-chan!**

**Please read, enjoy and review!

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It was a clear, crisp day during the in-between season of winter and spring. The weather was not yet warm, but not too cold either. The heavy rainstorm left the sky blue, the air clean and fresh, welcoming all outside. Unfortunately, Saitori was the only one to answer that welcoming call.

She strolled down the street, a content look on her face. Though the weather was not as cold as December, it definitely required a jacket. Saitori had on a brown T-shirt, covered by a black jacket, bearing her teams' symbol outlined in gold on the back. It was zipped only halfway, leaving the collar standing straight up, covering her neck. She wore a pair of loose-fitting, pocket-clad jeans, while her black tennis shoes stuck out of the bottom.

A light gust of wind tousled her dark brown, shoulder-length curly hair as she slung the grocery bag over her shoulder, letting out a thoughtful sigh. Saitori smiled as a few small birds flew across the sky. Spring was almost here. She couldn't believe how her life had changed the previous year when she'd met the Winged Guardians. Seeing her skill with the blade, they all unanimously admitted the girl onto their team. Ever since, their friendships had only grown as everyday brought a new adventure. Now almost mid-February, Saitori realized that she'd been a member for almost a half a year. It was hard to believe.

Slipping her hand into her pocket, she fingered her blade, Flarien. They'd been through a lot together, and were glad to finally have a place there they belonged.

Shifting the grocery bag to her other hand, Saitori continued down the street toward the team's house. She knew they'd be glad that she'd bought a new gallon of milk and other breakfast items that had been finished off the day before. As she neared the large house, she spotted the mail truck as it pulled up to the team's mailbox. Stepping from the truck, a man flipped through a stack of envelopes before pulling two objects from the pile and placing them in the black mailbox. The truck drove away as Saitori finally reached the house.

Pulling the lid of the mailbox down, Saitori grabbed the two items and closed the lid with a creak. She flipped past the ad for the local pizza shop, and went straight for the envelope. Eyeing it, Saitori saw the faint BBA logo in the background. It was addressed to the Winged Guardians. She saw that the date was marked only the day before. The envelope was sent by express-mail, which could only mean one thing. This was important.

Saitori walked up the driveway with a slightly brisker pace than before as she wondered what could be so urgent that the BBA needed to contact them on only a day's notice. Stepping through the front door, Saitori slid off her shoes and paced into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Sai-chan," Tenshi greeted as her friend set the grocery bag on the counter. The teen wore a pure white short-sleeve under a sky blue tank top. On the back was a picture of a majestic-looking phoenix. A white belt that hung lopsidedly from her hips complimented her dark blue jeans. Tenshi's chestnut brown hair was worn wavy as her icy blue bangs framed her face.

"Hey, Tensh," Saitori answered as she began unpacking the groceries. Tenshi took a bite out of her apple, and began to help unload them.

"So this is where you were this morning. I was beginning to wonder when you'd be back." Tenshi placed a box of cereal in the cupboard.

Saitori nodded. "I woke up and realized that we were almost out of food. So I decided to walk to the store and get some. It's beautiful outside."

"That was nice of you." Sakura walked into the kitchen. The oak-haired girl had on a purple shirt - one sleeve off the shoulder and one only half on her forearm. She wore silver chains that hung from the belt loops of her black pants. Sakura grabbed a bottle of syrup and set it in the pantry.

All of a sudden, footsteps started thumping down the stairs, followed by a squeal of delight. The three girls in the kitchen looked at each other. "Hiniku," they said at the same time.

Hiniku jumped into the room with a large grin. She was decked out in paper hearts, taped all over her body. The almost completely covered her navy V-neck and cream colored cami. She had multiple boxes of sweetheart candies stuffed into the pockets of her light blue jeans. "Happy Valentine's day!" she exclaimed, pulling out a big air horn. Hiniku squeezed the bubble on the back, making a loud explosive noise, spraying glitter all over the room.

"You know, you're a day early." Sakura quirked and eyebrow at her overly excited friend.

"So?! I'm getting prepared! Tomorrow's coming sooner than you think." Hiniku sounded the horn again, causing them to cringe. She then latched it to her belt with satisfied grin.

"If you celebrate it today, won't it take some of the fun out of the real holiday?" Tenshi asked, pulling a paper heart from Hiniku's hair, revealing some of the girl's fire highlights.

Hiniku shook her head, grinning wider. "You have no idea what I have planned for tomorrow." Tenshi and Sakura exchanged wary looks.

"Guys, I have a feeling that our plans for Valentine's day might be a little altered," Saitori spoke slowly. The girls' heads turned to her with questioning brows. Saitori reached for the BBA envelope she'd stuck in her back pocket, then showed it to her friends.

"That looks important," commented Sakura.

"What do you think it is?" Hiniku asked starting to take some of the red hearts off of herself.

"Definitely not an ad for Girl Scout cookies," Tenshi said.

"I think Kaze should open this," Saitori decided, referring to the group's team captain, then looked around. "Where is Kaze?"

"Oh, you know her - still waking up, I bet." Tenshi led the group into the living room where they found their friend, zoned out on a large comfy chair.

Kaze wore a white tank top under a navy blue jacket. On the upper left side of the jacket was the symbol of a winged cloud. He jean-covered legs were propped up on a hassock as she stared at the low-volumed TV with glazed pearl eyes. Her dark hair had silver highlights running through it, and it was pulled into a long braid that hung down her back. Though she stared at the TV, she was not actually watching it. It took Hiniku blowing her horn again, this time in Kaze's face, to snap her back into consciousness. Blinking away the glitter as it settled around her face, Kaze looked up at the group.

"Yes?" Kaze asked. Saitori held the BBA envelope up for the team captain to see. Kaze's eyes widened ever so slightly as she reached for the letter. Turning it over in her hand, she examined it, then looked up again. "Girl Scout cookies?" Kaze joked as she tore the envelope open. Her brow furrowed a little as her silver eyes scanned the letter.

"Well?" Hiniku craned her neck to see the paper in her friend's hands. "What does it say?" The rest of the team nodded, gathering around to catch a glimpse.

Kaze cleared her throat. "It says _- Beybladers, I hope you all are doing well and getting ready for this year's fast-approaching tournament. The competition should be fiercer than ever, not to scare you all off. I know all of you are up to challenge and looking forward to the new faces we will be seeing. Which reminds me - not all of you have your registered fifth teammate yet. Find a notable blader worthy of adding to your team. I implore you not to wait till the last moment. You all need to get used to your teammate in time for the tournament._

_The Beyblade Battle Association will be hosting a mandatory meeting on February 14, for all teams that will be participating in this year's tourney. I realize that this is last minute notice, but the BBA will pay for all airfare, accommodations, and meal costs. I speak for the entire association when I say that we are looking forward to seeing all the new surprises you will bring to the table this year. The teams: PPB All Starz, F-Dynasty, Blitzkrieg Boys, Barthez Battalion, Winged Guardians, and White Tiger X are expected to return this year stronger than ever. The BBA hopes to see you all at the meeting in Tokyo, Japan,_ -- and it's signed by Mr. Dickinson, chairman," Kaze finished reading aloud.

"What's with us and the weird holiday schedules?" Sakura asked no one in particular.

Tenshi shrugged. "I don't know. But I'd suggest we try to get to Tokyo before tomorrow when most of the teams will be arriving. We don't want to be out of a hotel room."

"The streets of a big city aren't safe at night. No way am I going to be stranded on the cold sidewalks of Tokyo all night." Hiniku shook her head.

Saitori looked up from the letter she'd been re-reading. "Then let's get there by this evening."

Nodding, Kaze stood, turning the TV off. "That way we have all day to pack and get ready. If I remember correctly, a flight leaves at about 4 p.m. today. It should get us to Tokyo by 5. That'll give us some time to get settled and maybe go sight seeing."

"But in the meantime," Tenshi pulled her turquoise beyblade from its respective pocket, "We need to practice." Under normal circumstances, the team would have argued over this. But after hearing the BBA letter read aloud, they must have thought better of it. They were obviously excited at the prospect of the tournament coming so soon. In order to do well at the competition this summer, they needed to practice. A lot.

Saitori walked into the kitchen to set the letter on the table, propping the envelope up by a napkin holder. She grabbed a water bottle as her teammates did. The other girls headed outside, but Saitori remained in the kitchen, looking thoughtfully at the letter. This was really happening - she was member of the BBA. She'd known this for a time, but it was just now sinking in. Saitori slipped out of her jacket, knowing that she wouldn't need it outside, even if the team was only going to have an hour of training today. Her brown shirt bore the symbol of a winged red flame. Saitori knew she'd have to live up to the team's legacy by trying twice as hard to improve her blading skills. She wouldn't let them down, no matter what.

From inside the house, Saitori heard the training session begin as four blades began spinning outside. She tossed the water bottle in the air and caught it, then slipped it into one of her pockets. Saitori pulled Flarien from the small pouch attached to her upper arm as she headed toward the back door leading to the team's backyard that they'd turned into a training ground. She paused as she opened the door and glanced back at the clock on the team's oven. "10-o-clock…we've got time…." Saitori thought, pulling her ripcord and launcher from her pocket and jogging outside, closing the door behind her.

…

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME! 3:55! WE HAVE FIVE MINUTES TILL OUR FLIGHT LEAVES, PEOPLE!! LET'S MOVE!" Sakura yelled as she led the team, sprinting toward their exit gate. The group had just arrived at the airport after packing furiously for the past three hours. Dropping their suitcases at the luggage check, the team raced to the other side of the airport where their flight gate was.

Between the five of them, they balanced a large, heavy bag that Hiniku had insisted on bringing. They had to run with it evenly spaced in the middle of them.

"What the heck is in this thing, Hiniku?" Tenshi asked, gripping one corner of the bag as the five of them ran on. "Evidence of Bigfoot?"

"I can't tell you," Hiniku replied. "You'll find out eventually."

Saitori narrowly missed a man as he walked in the opposite direction as the team. "Couldn't you have just left it with our luggage, back there? It's slowing us down."

Hiniku shook her head. "It's too fragile."

Kaze eyed her friend. Too fragile? Were they even allowed to bring it on an airplane?

As the team caught sight of the gate, their legs pumped harder, seeing their "finish line".

"Get your passports out." Sakura ordered as they neared it. Single-handedly, they rummaged through their various pockets and bags, fishing out their wallets. Finally reaching the ticket lady, they only had to flash their BBA ID's and they were admitted onto the plane.

Now this was the tricky part. They had to carry the bag through that long, skinny, darkly lit hallway leading into the plane without dropping it, or else, Hiniku's wrath would surely be unleashed. So, Sakura still led the group, calling out directions of when to turn or stop. Tenshi, Hiniku, Kaze, and Saitori held onto the sides of the bag as if their lives depended on it. Finally, the team saw the light of the plane's interior at the end of the hallway…and the announcement that all passengers should take their seats at this time.

The Winged Guardians let out a yell of disapproval as the airplane's engines roared to life. Just twenty more yards to go before they reached the plane…

Another announcement sounded that all seatbelts should be fastened.

Their legs ran wildly as they tried desperately to pick up speed. They were determined not to miss this flight.

"All passengers should be seated and ready for liftoff. Please enjoy your flight."

The team yelled again in protest and ran faster. Their footsteps stampeded as they finally reached the plane. Just as the last two leaped through gateway, the door slid closed and the plane began to pull away. The force of the sudden lurch of movement threw the team backward into the just-closed door, leaving the girls heaped on the floor. Passengers stared.

Saitori struggled to a stand as the plane sped down the runway. "We made it," she panted.

Trying to look presentable, the girls stood and attempted to walk to the six empty seats toward the back of the plane. But the plane lurched again, throwing the team against various people's seats. This earned the girls some annoyed looks.

Eventually, the teams fell into their empty seats, facing each other. They immediately clicked their seatbelts on - good thing, too, because at that moment, the plane hit another bump, then began lifting into the air.

"I don't care how you all argue next time," Kaze gripped the armrests of her seat for support, "we're leaving the house early, not on time, early."

Saitori leaned her head back against her seat and nodded. "Imagine how disastrous it would have been if we missed this flight."

"We would've had to wait in the airport for three more hours until the next on left," Tenshi added.

Waiting until she thought Hiniku wasn't looking, Sakura leaned over to peek inside the bag that the girl had tried so hard to protect. But as soon as Sakura got a hold of the bag's zipper, Hiniku whipped around and swatted her friend's hand away.

"Cut it out, Sakura! I told you you'd all find out what it was tomorrow. You can wait that long, can't you?" Hiniku eyed them all.

Sakura folded her arms, defeated. "I just thought we should know what was in it, since it was us that lugged it around the airport, running like crazy people."

"Don't worry. You won't be disappointed, tomorrow," Hiniku reassured her.

"Could you at least give us a clue?" Tenshi asked.

But as Hiniku shook her head, another voice was heard. "Excuse me," a feminine voice said. The team looked up to see a woman in a flight attendant's uniform pausing in front of their seats. "Sorry to interrupt you, but would you like anything to eat? It's the pilot's request to make all out passengers' rides as enjoyable as possible."

The plane jolted again for some reason, making Kaze's small bag go skidding across the floor. As Saitori reached to pick it up, the attendant seemed to notice the small pouch on the girl's upper arm, holding her beyblade. "Here you go, Kaze." Saitori handed the bag back to her friend.

The woman's deep blue eyes widened as she looked from one team member's face to the next. "Kaze…Minakotsa?" The team captain looked at the flight attendant, cautiously nodding.

"Wait. This can't be. You guys aren't the Winged Guardians, are you?" The woman's voice rose a little in excitement.

The friends exchanged wary looks; then Sakura said a simple, "Yes," and the attendant went into a star-struck episode.

"Look, lady," Tenshi cut her off in mid oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-this-is-happening-to-me phase, "could you keep it down a bit? We went to be able to enjoy our flight without every single passenger coming up to us and flashing pictures."

The flight attendant's voice lowered. "Sorry. It's just that," she looked over her shoulder before continuing, "it's my daughter's birthday, today. I'll see her for the first time in two weeks when I get off work later. She's absolutely in love with you guys. She has everyone of your battles recorded." Hiniku's eyebrows raised. "It would be the best birthday present if I could give her your guys' autographs."

Looking around at the team, Saitori shrugged and pulled a small BBA poster and sharpie from her mini-backpack. The poster had a picture of the individual Winged Guardians in the four different corners, Kaze in the middle, all getting ready to launch their blades. Saitori signed her name under her picture, then passed the poster around to the other team members. It finally ended up back in Saitori's hands again. She rolled it tightly and handed it to the attendant with a grin. "Tell your daughter Happy Birthday for us."

The lady said a round of star-struck thank-you's and held the poster close. "Can I get you anything to eat?" she gushed.

Kaze shrugged. "Some drinks would be nice…"

And with that, the attendant raced off to find the coldest, freshest drinks for the team. Being famous did have its perks.

Soon, the lady returned with the drinks and left to serve the other passengers. Hiniku peered around at the rest of the airplane. Seeing that no one seemed to be glaring at them anymore, she turned back, and the team all at once let out a sigh of relief.

After that, there wasn't much conversation. The team settled in their seats for the rest of the flight. Sakura flipped through a magazine full of state-of-the-art beyblade parts. Kaze pulled out a book that was already half read, and twirled her bottle of soda in the cup holder absentmindedly. Hiniku situated her large, heavy bag in front of her curious teammates. Tenshi sipped at her orange Gatorade and stuck her headphones on. Saitori looked around at her friends, seeing that none of them were waiting in anxiety. Without even thinking, she reached into her pouch and slid Flarien out. Though she didn't show it, she was very anxious, more like nervous in her seat. She was going to her very first BBA meeting, and had no idea what to expect. But looking around, Saitori noticed that everyone seemed at ease. She guessed she shouldn't be so nervous, either. But as she fiddled with Flarien, the butterflies in her stomach didn't settle. Even though over the months she'd become a close friend with each of them, Saitori couldn't bring herself to ask any of the questions tumbling around in her head. There are some things meant to be kept to yourself.

Deciding to redirect her nervousness in doing something productive, Saitori pulled a cloth from her pocket. She twisted the attack ring off of her blade, then slid the metal weight disk from the blade base. Finally, she popped the bit out of place. Flarien had gathered a small film of dust and grim build-up since its last cleaning. Yes, by the time the plane landed, Saitori would have her blade shining again.

…

The Winged Guardians retrieved their suitcases from the luggage pickup and headed to the nearest exit of the airport. Once outside, no one seemed to notice the team as they joined the flocks of pedestrians walking to various destinations. The city was still well lit even as the day neared evening. Looking up, the team could barely see the sky through the tall buildings of Tokyo. Various signs in kanji flashed in all different colors. A mixture of smells filled the dense air and the sound of music came from every shop the team passed. The street was packed with bikers and taxis, motors rumbling and drivers honking as the traffic built up. The Winged Guardians felt very small in such a large, busy place.

Saitori followed her teammates as they led the way through the crowded sidewalks. After a while, she saw where they were headed. Though she'd been in Tokyo just last year, she hadn't noticed the large dome-shaped building looming above even some of the tallest buildings. On the side was a sign bearing the BBA' s emblem. It was the association's headquarters--the original Beyblading stadium. The stadium where so many Championship matches were held. The stadium where so many legends were made.

Saitori paused when she reached the bottom of the steps leading up to the headquarters. Drawing in a sharp breath, she stared up at the gray dome. She remembered when she was just a kid, sitting excitedly in front of the TV on the opening night of the very first Beyblade Tournament. She had turned to her dad who was seated on the couch and pointed to the screen when the camera zoomed in on the very same building.

_'I'm gonna go there someday!' _Saitori had exclaimed.

Her dad had chuckled, his brown eyes, identical to her own, gazing down at his daughter. _'I believe you,' _he said._ 'Never give up on your dreams. Always reach as far as you can, and you'll eventually make it.'_

And here she was, in front of the building that she'd promised herself she'd be nearly a decade ago. Her dad was right. Her dreams were coming true. How she wished he was there to witness it along with the rest of her family.

"Saitori, are you going to stay out on the street all night, or are you coming?" Kaze called from the left.

Turning, she gathered her bags and joined her team with a grin. Tenshi could have sworn that she'd seen a small tear glisten in her friend's eye as she gazed up at the BBA headquarters. But there was no sign of it now.

The Winged Guardians walked just down the street and reached the hotel specified for the teams to room in. It didn't look too fancy--just your everyday 3-star hotel. The outside was well lit and welcoming. A red BBA sign was placed right above the entrance of the cream-painted doorway.

The team entered and was hit with a 'BOOM' of noise. They had to literally squeeze their way through the doorway and into the hotel on account of the front lobby being crammed with people. Very familiar-looking people the team realized, looking around. The Winged Guardians found that they weren't the first ones with the idea to arrive at Tokyo a day early. Every other team in the BBA was there--luggage and all.

Saitori's mouth fell open as she looked from one side of the lobby to the other. These were all the participants in this year's tournament, with the exception of one team. As the hotel's door closed behind them with a small slam, at once, everyone turned to see the new arrivals. A crowd of people moved to stand in front of the doorway again, closing the pathway that had just been open for the team. They later realized that the people were taking their place in a line for the elevator. After a few seconds of semi-silence, the lobby turned back to whatever they were doing before and the noise resumed. Saitori's eyes scanned the room, not recognizing most of the faces around her--with the exception of a few.

"Kaze! You all made it!" Max's delighted voice said as he stepped up to the team captain. He wore a red, white, and blue PPB All Starz jacket, uniform with his teammates' who were talking amongst themselves on the other side of the hotel's lobby.

"Yeah," Kaze nodded, smiling at the boy. "We got the letter just today and decided to get here this evening. Apparently, we weren't the first with this idea." She motioned to all the others in the crowds.

"Hey," a lower-toned voice said from behind Hiniku as a fist rested atop her head. "Why are you here so late?"

Hiniku turned to see a seemingly taller Tala than when she'd seen him last. He still wore his orange and white lightweight snowsuit. His eyes had changed from a navy color to a crystal blue. She ducked away from his fist and sighed helplessly. "How is it that you get taller every time I see you?"

He smirked jokingly. "Either that or you're shrinking."

"You came, huh?"

Turning, Sakura saw a familiar-looking raven-haired, toothy smiling teen. "Rei!" she exclaimed, encircling her arms around him.

"So good to see you again, Sakura." Rei said sincerely.

"What? You didn't think we'd back down from the competition, this year, did you? The one last year was just barely getting started when it ended!" she answered enthusiastically, making Rei laugh softly.

Hearing a noise behind her, Tenshi turned to see Kai as his crimson eyes studied her for a moment.

"New haircut?" he asked, reaching to touch the ends of her chestnut-colored hair.

Tenshi nodded with a grin, clearly pleased that he'd noticed, and studied him. "New…scarf?" He wore a dark, short-sleeved jacket, the gold and red colored buckles hanging open, though he still wore his long, flowing scarf indoors. Kai nodded in response. "Kai, what's up with all these people in the lobby? Shouldn't the teams be moving to the their rooms once they check in?"

He pointed to the elevator. "It's broken, so they have to manually operate it, now. It takes longer."

"Why don't they just take the stairs?" Tenshi muttered in a practical tone.

The spiky-haired teen smirked softly down at her, expecting that response. He shrugged and turned his gaze to the front desk. "I'd get in line, if I were you."

Tenshi followed his gaze and saw Saitori slowly walking to the receptionist's desk, taking everything is as she went. The Winged Guardians-and-co followed her, pausing behind a team just checking in. The conversation at the desk was little loud, letting them hear exactly what was being said.

"What do you mean, there's no other room?" a male voice asked.

"I told you. All the vacancies except for one room have been filled. That particular combo room has only three beds - two in one side, and one in the other." The receptionist spoke in a stained, tired voice.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, we have four team members here. One of which is a girl. We need another bed," the boy insisted.

"There's nothing we can do, sir," the lady behind the desk replied.

"Could you pull one that's not being used from another room?"

She glared at him over the rims of her glasses. "Are you trying to be difficult?" the receptionist asked, annoyance rising in her voice.

"Look. This is a BBA hotel. You can't tell me that when this place was being designed, it wasn't considered that 4-5 person teams would be boarding here. Isn't that what this place is for?" the male asked.

"This is a tourist hotel, thank you. And we happen to be particularly booked tonight. I'm sorry, but a three-person combo is all we have left." The lady sighed heavily.

"There's not even a futon you can pull from a closet or something?"

The receptionist pressed both hands on her desk, palms down. "Take the room or leave it. There's a line forming behind you, so make your decision."

The teen finally turned around, though his face was still hidden behind his teammates. "Sorry guys, but that's all they have."

"Guess we'll have to take it then," a boy spoke, thick brown curls sticking out from under his white hat.

"You'd think they'd have enough room for a team of four." A boy with pallid-blue hair shook his head.

"I'll sacrifice my bed for you guys. I can sleep on the floor in my side of the combo room." A girl with rosy hair girl spoke softly. Goggles were perched on the top of her head.

The taller boy, seemingly the team captain, shook his head with a sigh. "No, Mathilda. I could never let a girl sleep on the floor because of me. I'll give up my bed for one of you guys."

All the while, Saitori was trying to figure out who the team was. She scanned the room again, going through a mental checklist of all the teams. Finally, it was down to two. From what she'd heard, they had a team of four, one of which whose name was Mathilda.

The captain of the team turned back to the desk. "We'll take it."

The receptionist let out a grateful sigh. "And who can I put down as the renter?"

The teen looked back at his teammates before answering. "We're the Barthez Battalion."

Saitori's mind suddenly clicked together. Barthez Battalion. She remembered them from last year's tournament. That meant that the curly-haired boy was Aaron, and the blue-haired one was Claude. Which left one other.

The team finally parted, leaving a clear view of him to Saitori. Her ebony eyes gazed at him as he picked up his suitcase, his kind, but preoccupied face waiting patiently for the lady. Finally, the receptionist handed him the key to their combo-room, and he turned back to face his team. The teen wore a pure white vest that hung open, revealing a sky-blue short-sleeve shirt. Black buckles lined his jacket and deep burgundy, knee-length shorts. His hair was blonde, yet sandy brown in the front and near the nap of his neck. Yes, it was him.

Miguel.

"What?! Are you serious?!" Sakura shouted, racing up to the desk, making her own pathway through the frustrated team. "There're no more rooms?"

"No." The receptionist looked like she really didn't want to be there.

"But, but…" Sakura stuttered in disbelief.

"Sorry, Petala. We took the last one." Miguel spoke, leading his team to the end of the waiting line for the elevator with a sigh. Mathilda threw an apologetic look over her shoulder at the Winged Guardians as she followed her team.

Hiniku let her bags fall to the floor with a thud. "What are we going to do?" she asked Kaze.

She smiled back, something hidden in her silver gaze. "We always have a Plan B," the team captain answered, then glanced over at her blue-banged friend. "Tenshi?"

Tenshi nodded and dug her cell phone out of her pocket. The boys stood by and watched with puzzled looks. She scrolled down for a second, then pressed the 'send' button. Soon, the observing group heard the ring of a telephone over the cell phone's speaker. Tenshi shushed the group and held the phone in front of her, waiting for someone on the other line to pick up. After three rings, a voice answered.

"Granger residence."

"Tyson?" questioned Tenshi.

"Uh…yes…who is this?" Tyson asked suspiciously.

Tenshi stifled a laugh. "You don't recognize my voice?"

"No." Even from over the line, Tenshi could hear the wariness in his voice. "Listen, if this is some prank caller, I'll - "

"Tyson, it's me, Tenshi. Remember now?"

"Oh," Tyson replied, recognition in his voice, though it was still slightly cautious. "What happened?" he asked bluntly, realizing the only reason for her to call him would be if she needed something.

"Listen. Tyson, we kinda sorta need a favor." Tenshi spoke, looking around at her teammates.

"Figures." Tenshi could almost see Tyson rolling his eyes.

"We're in a predicament here. The BBA hotel has no more available rooms, thanks to all the teams flying in tonight for the meeting tomorrow." Tenshi explained.

"What are you asking, Tenshi?"

"We're asking," she corrected, "if you happen to have any extra rooms at your house that we could possibly stay in overnight. You wouldn't want to leave five girls on the street, now would you?"

Tyson paused. "Yeah, Grandpa and I have way more rooms than we need. You all can come over." Tenshi silently pumped her fist in the air and her teammates did the same. "So, are the guys coming, too?"

The blue-banged girl reasoned that 'the guys' meant Kai, Max, Rei, and Tala. It was tradition for them all to get together for holidays and special occasions. He eyes scanned over the boys' faces for the answer. Hearing the conversation over the phone's speaker, they all knew what she was silently asking them. All of them looked in the affirmative. Why not? "They all say 'yes'. Why only bring half of the crew?"

"Great. Then it's set. I just have to let Grandpa know that we'll have a full house tonight. I'm sure he won't mind. I'll see you all in about 30 minutes, then." Tyson reaffirmed.

"Yeah. Tyson, we owe you one." Tenshi said thankfully.

"I know." The grin was apparent in his voice. "See you all soon." Tenshi snapped her phone shut.

"Well," Hiniku said, "You heard the man. Let's get going!"

As the guys left to tell their teams their individual change of plans, the girls gathered their bags from the floor. "Thank God for Tyson and his over-roomed dojo." Sakura sighed with relief.

But Saitori couldn't help but looking back over at the Barthez Battalion. The team still looked frustrated over their misfortune. It didn't seem right to Saitori that Miguel would have to sleep on the floor - which Hiniku would probably testify of countless cockroaches crawling across. No one deserved that.

"Saitori? Is something wrong?" Kaze asked her friend, her voice concerned. She followed her gaze toward the team across the room.

"Kaze, do you think Tyson would mind housing another person overnight?" the curly-haired girl questioned, her gaze trained on the team.

"No I don't," Kaze replied. "Why?"

"Do you think we could invite of them to come with us?"

Kaze eyed Saitori. "I don't see why not."

And without another word, Saitori had crossed the lobby, her teammates blinking after her. She approached the Barthez Battalion, a look of courage in her eye. It took somewhat of a lot for her to approach a group of people that she didn't know - especially if three of them were a good inch or more taller than her. Once she made it there, she stood, staring up at the team who hadn't yet noticed her. They seemed to be making good use of their time while waiting in the slow-moving line.

"So tomorrow, the meeting starts at 11. That means we need to leave her at about 10 before the media starts piling up outside the dome." Claude told the group.

Mathilda nodded and Aaron continued. "We also need to have breakfast tomorrow morning. How long do you think the meeting will last?"

"Probably no more than two hours," Miguel answered. "We'll need to fit a practice in before the meeting since we'll be probably be heading home tomorrow afternoon. If we can, let's train tonight, too. The last-minute notice didn't exactly help with our practice session before we left this morning." All of a sudden, he heard a quiet clearing-of-the-throat behind him. He turned and met the dark brown gaze of…some girl. Her ebony eyes unwaveringly stared up, catching him a little off guard. The intensity of her gaze spoke more words than he could comprehend - a little scary considering he didn't even know who this girl was. Miguel glanced down at her jacket and saw the emblem of a winged "W. G." on her upper left side. So this was the new member of the Winged Guardians? He cleared his throat before speaking. "Yes?" he said, the rest of his team glancing around him to see who she was.

Her gaze faltered a bit, then she looked back up at the team. "Um, back there," the curly-haired teen jabbed a thumb in the direction of the front desk, "my team and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about the room situation." Her voice came out softer than Miguel would have expected. But he guessed that was to be expected in such loud surroundings.

"Yeah, about that. We're sorry, but we can't give up our room to you girls. We're one bed short as it is." Aaron told her.

"I'm not coming over here because we want your room. We have a place to stay, tonight. It's you we're worried about," Saitori emphasized as she looked at each of the members square in the eye, stopping at Miguel again. "We heard that one of you are going to have to sleep on the floor."

Miguel stared at her. "What does it matter to you?" he asked curiously.

"The Winged Guardians and some of the guys form other teams are heading over to Tyson Granger's house. He has a bunch of guestrooms that aren't being used. It wouldn't be fair to you guys if we had all this room at Tyson's house and one of you were suffering on a hotel floor."

The Barthez Battalion team simultaneously quirked an eyebrow. Was this girl for real? If there was one thing the team had learned in professional blading, it was to never help the "enemy". But this girl - whom they still didn't know the name of - seemed to not mind at all.

Mathilda's dawn-tinted eyes washed over the girl's face. She was usually a good judge of character. This one seemed nice enough, one that would be easy to get along with. She didn't seem to be scheming anything under her dark brown gaze like she knew some of her teammates were thinking.

Aaron looked at the new Winged Guardian with chary eyes. Was something wrong with her? You don't just go prancing up to random teams asking if one of them would like to spend the night with a bunch of other bladers - bladers that could be out to get advantages over them in the tournament. For some reason, he didn't trust her. Not yet.

Claude was silent. This didn't look good. He'd known Miguel for years - way before ever starting a team on the world-level. And in all his years of knowing the blond, he'd never seen this look in his eye. Unlike the others, he took in Miguel's reaction to the girl that had approached their team. For the first time he actually seemed taken off guard, his eyes not leaving her, seeming to be deep in thought. What the heck was going on? Turning to the girl, Claude stared at her, a slight glint in his eye. Who was she to walk in on their team?

"Well," Mathilda broke the silence, "I don't see anything wrong with it." Both Aaron and Claude gawked at their teammate silently. Miguel saw this.

"Excuse us for moment," he said as he pulled his team into a huddle, facing away from the girl.

"Mathilda, what are you thinking?" Aaron whispered as loud as he dared.

The rose-haired girl looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Claude took a sideways look at Miguel. "This doesn't seem right. What's wrong with staying with our team?"

"Look, she's just trying to be nice. If I were to go to Tyson's, it'd be a whole lot better than spending the night on the floor." Miguel said, eyeing the orange-haired teen beside him. What was up with him?

Mathilda noticed the discrepancy between the two. She stepped between them and said, "It's really up to Miguel. He's the one that would be going with them, if he were to choose." She looked from Claude to Miguel, trying to break up the silent argument between the two friends. Neither of them seemed to be letting up as their eyes stared meaningfully at each other.

"Fine." Claude spoke, then took one last look at his team captain. "But I don't like this whole thing."

"What's not to like?" Miguel asked in indignation.

Aaron spoke to Claude. "Let him go. If he wants to break the team up for the night, let him do it." He then turned to Miguel. "Just make sure not to give them anything that would put us at a disadvantage in the tournament." With that, he and Claude turned away.

Miguel gaped at his teammates and looked down at Mathilda. "What's up with them?"

She peered around him and saw the girl waiting patiently. "Just leave them alone for now. They'll get over it." Mathilda looked up at her team captain before she left. "Don't forget about our practice session tonight." And with that, she went to join her other teammates with one last encouraging smile over her shoulder.

Miguel took one last look at his team and turned to face the girl. "I guess I'm coming with you." Her face lit up in a wide grin as he said this. "Just, one thing." She looked up at him, questioningly. "What's your name?"

"Saitori," she answered with a smile, then turned to join her team, leaving him blinking after her.

_Saitori_, he thought as he watched her retreating form. _It has a nice ring to it._

…

It turned out that Tyson didn't live very far from the BBA Headquarters, so the Winged Guardians-plus-the-guys ended up walking the short way to his house. As the group left the hotel, in the short while that they were inside, it had turned from daylight to dusk. The moon could barely be seen from below the newly budding trees the teens were walking through. The temperature had dropped a bit from earlier and a light wind blew.

Miguel definitely felt out of his comfort zone. He walked a ways behind the group, not feeling like he belonged. He barely knew these people. Trying to overlook the conversation that the group was having, he stared up at the moon as he walked on. His team was left back at the hotel - the only ones he could really be himself around. But now, they didn't seem to like him so much. The whole issue about sleeping-in-a-different-place-because-he-actually-wanted-a-bed-to-sleep-in thing seemed to have torn them apart somehow. They probably just needed some time to cool off. Jet lag does weird things to a team.

But even so, he couldn't wait to be back at the hotel to practice.

Miguel adjusted the large duffel bag slung over his shoulder and tried to ignore the round of laughter they'd just broken into. What were they so happy about? Even the usual stiff Kai and Tala seemed at ease.

His eyes scanned the darkening evening, thankful for the peace it brought him. The group-plus-him were now walking on a paved pathway through the woods. He hoped they knew where they were going. He didn't want to be lost in the woods all night.

The atmosphere was silent except for the hushed talking of the group ahead of him. When they erupted into excitement at something they were talking about, Miguel's thoughts wandered back to the hotel. He wondered what his team was doing. He'd been through so many tournaments with them that he could almost picture the scene now.

They should have arrived in their hotel room by this time, and would be unpacking. Claude and Aaron were probably arguing over something trivial - typical of their friendship. Mathilda would be trying to break it up. She always seemed to be the peacemaker of the group, even when he would get caught up in a dispute. Quiet, but strong, she always had a clear head, and was a friend to everyone. She didn't like fighting.

But now, it seemed as if something wasn't right between him and the team. Usually, they were like siblings - the best of friends. In all his years of being teammates, he'd never seen such a conflict amongst them. And boy, he didn't like it. Miguel hoped they'd be able to solve it in time for the meeting tomorrow. He knew that contention in an important meeting, such as the upcoming one, never ended well.

Miguel turned his attention from the darkening sky and back to the group of teens ahead of him. They seemed so unified. And they weren't even all members of the same team. Why couldn't the Barthez Battalion be like that, too?

His eyes scanned the teens, but his eyes paused on Saitori, bringing up the rear. She bore her team emblem proudly on her back as she strolled near Sakura and Hiniku. Her suitcase was dragged on a pair of small wheels, leaving one hand free, which she casually had in one pocket. From the back view Miguel couldn't see her face, but he could still hear her soft laughter among her friends. Even so, there was a hint of loneliness in her demeanor. She seemed to be left behind, even though she kept a pace with the teens. Everyone was paired up, and no one was by her side.

Suddenly, as if she felt his eyes on her, Saitori turned, and once again, her friendly ebony eyes were upon him. Her smile stretched across her face, almost instantly lightening his own heavy mood, but not quite. Saitori paused and waited for Miguel to catch up to her.

"You look all alone back here." Saitori fell into pace with him.

He gave her a small smile. "Just thinking."

She looked forward for a moment. "About your team?" she asked, almost reading his thoughts.

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry if I caused some sort of discrepancy between you and them. I just thought that - "

Miguel cut her off by shaking his head. "It wasn't your fault. I think it was something I did. I wish I knew what."

"Maybe," Saitori began, "they don't like the idea of you being away from them when you guys should be together, planning for tomorrow."

"What's there to plan? We go to the meeting, hear what Mr. Dickinson has to say, then go home." Miguel rolled his eyes.

Saitori shrugged. "That could be how they feel."

"Maybe."

Deciding not to push the subject anymore, Saitori changed topics. "So, I take it you know who Tyson is."

Miguel nodded. "We met a few years ago at a tournament. He has a kind of magnetic personality, if you know what I mean."

Saitori smiled. "He does." The group of teens had just reached the end of the woods and was now walking through a neighborhood of houses. "So, you're friends?"

"You could say that," Miguel answered and looked down at her, as if sizing up her reaction. "He taught my team what the true meaning of beyblading is."

She nodded, her cordial eyes trained on him. "Blading always seems to bring people together."

"You can make the best of friends, or the worst of enemies." He gave her a small smile. "I always hope for the friends."

"Me, too." Saitori met his smile. "It'd be a little awkward if you didn't know Tyson. It's even better that you get along with him."

A joking grin made its way across Miguel's face. "Now, I didn't say he wasn't annoying."

Saitori laughed, her eyes sparkling in the moonlit night. As her exuberance rang out, it sent warm tingles up and down his back. For some reason, he wanted to hear it again and again.

"Hey, look. We're here!" Saitori said enthusiastically as Miguel looked up to see a one-floored dojo. A tall white fence that surrounded the entire house enclosed its courtyard. Three budding apple trees lined the walkway, leading up to the dojo as the group walked toward it. As the teens stepped onto the porch, they slid off their shoes. But just as Kaze reached to knock, the door skidded open, revealing Tyson.

"Hey…guys…what's…up?" he panted between each word. The boy wore dark blue jeans and a red jacket with pockets. Spiky navy hair stuck out from under his backward baseball hat. He clung to the open door for support as he continued to pant.

"Tyson, what happened to you, man?" Max asked his friend.

Rei and Kai looked at each other. "Last minute clean-up," they concluded. After years of being on a team with Tyson, they knew exactly what went on off stage before visitors arrived at his house. More than likely, just seconds before the group made it to the dojo, Tyson was racing around, picking up his dirty laundry, and tossing it into the washing machine. The futons in the spare rooms were probably hurriedly stuffed into a closet, and the bathrooms just barely cleaned. But, hey - it's the thought that counts, right?

"Thanks again, Tyson," Tenshi said as the group began filing into the house.

"Sure thing," he replied, finally catching his breath. "How are you guys?"

"Ah ah ah ah, stayin' alive!" Hiniku sang, causing a round of laughter amongst the teens, Tala shaking his head at her with a small hopeless smile.

Finally, Saitori made it to the door, and with a friendly nod at Tyson, entered the house. Once Tyson saw who was bringing up the rear of the group, his eyes bulged.

"Is that you, Miguel?" he asked, looking at the blond. Getting a nod in response from him, Tyson continued. "Jeez, I haven't seen you since last year. How's it going?"

"Fine," Miguel answered. "Tenshi probably told you already that they ran out of rooms at the hotel."

Tyson nodded and looked outside, confused. "Where's the rest of your team?"

"Back at the hotel. They only had three beds in the last combo." Miguel nodded toward Saitori. "She invited me to come with them to your house."

"Will it work out, Tyson? I didn't think to call you before asking him." Saitori asked Tyson with a tinge of apology in her voice.

"Of course it'll work. I told you guys that Grandpa and I have more than enough rooms here." He turned to Miguel, and with a friendly smile said, "Come on in. Daichi's not going to be able to make the meeting, so you can take his futon."

Miguel gave him a joking glare. "Sure, replace monkey-boy with me. Sounds like a good trade." The two boys laugh, and Saitori looked on with a smile. She was glad to finally see a real smile on Miguel's face.

…

Ok.

This was all out war.

All that was needed to say was: girls-versus-boys, and…Sweethearts.

It all started with the group getting settled in. All the bags were unpacked, suitcases dumped, and futons set out. It was nine-ish, and the teens gathered around the fireplace in the living room. Sakura and Rei had fixed hot chocolate in the kitchen and were serving it to the group. Rei brought the mugs and the pot of warm liquid, while Sakura carried the marshmallows and peppermint sprinkles around to the group. After the hot chocolate was served, the teens sat there, staring at the licking flames in the fireplace. All was peaceful…until…

"Anyone want some Sweethearts?" Tenshi suddenly asked, pulling out a bag of store-bought sweetheart candies.

"I DO!" Tyson shouted, leaping from his seat on the couch, jostling everyone else who was sitting on it.

"Jeez, Tyson! Cut it out! I almost spilled hot chocolate all over my lap!" Hiniku yelled at the boy as Tala handed her a napkin.

"I DO, I DO, I DO!!" Tyson continued to shout, waving his arm in the air obnoxiously, trying to get Tenshi's attention across the room.

But she strategically didn't look in the boy's direction, and looked everywhere else, besides at him. "No one wants any? No one at all?"

"TENSHI!" Tyson whined.

"I know you guys want some," Tenshi said with a smirk as the boy continued to yell. And with that, she tossed a box of Sweethearts to everyone, purposely missing Tyson. Each person caught his or her box, grudgingly looking down at it. They didn't like the candies at all. Finally, Tenshi looked up at Tyson. "Oh, I think I'm out of Sweethearts, Tyson." The boy glared at her in despair. "But I did find something at the store that you might like. Do you like sour things?" she asked, with a sly smirk.

"YES!" Tyson bellowed, instantly animated again as the blue-banged teen threw him a green box of hearts.

Each of the teens opened their box and looked down at the first heart they slid out.

"Call me," one said.

"Be mine," another read.

"Forever yours."

"I love you."

"Idiot."

The group froze, and looked up at Tyson as he read his heart, a few of them chuckling. Tyson frowned, then ate the heart, pulling another one out.

"Go bother someone else," he read aloud. By now, most of the room was laughing. Once again, he grudgingly popped the candy into his mouth then read the next one.

"Why even open the box?" it said. This time instead of eating it, he chucked the small candy across the room at Tenshi, hitting her in the cheek. "Why, Tenshi?!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, I thought you said you like sour things," Tenshi threw one of her hearts back at the irritated boy, hitting him in the arm.

"Not that kind of sour!" he yelled, flinging another one of the green hearts at the girl across the room. Only this time, Sakura happened to be reaching over Tenshi for another marshmallow…and the heart hit her in the forehead.

After that, there was nothing but war.

Sakura jumped up, throwing one of her hearts at the boy, accidentally hitting Tala dead in the nose. He picked up one of his and hurled it back at Sakura, ricocheting it off of her chin and hitting Kaze with the same throw. Saitori stood to try to stop the no-doubt future battle between the two sides, and ended up getting pummeled by five airborne candies.

Kaze pulled her down as a wall of hearts was flung at the girls from the boy side of the room. In no time flat, the girls had grabbed all the pillows and cushions from the loveseat behind them and had built a temporary blockade around of them. As Hiniku pulled the last cushion over their "fort", they could hear hundreds of hearts raining down on the pillows. The girls huddled under their semi-protection and listened as the boys moved around the barrier, trying to surround them and attack when they decided to come out.

"Ok, what's the plan?" Tenshi asked, looking around at her teammates, seeing their faces slightly in the light that was peeking through some of the cracks in the "wall".

"I say, let's make a run for it. If we can draw them apart, we have a better chance at winning this," Saitori suggested.

"Right, but we need someone to stay behind and guard our stronghold," Sakura pointed out.

"I vote Tenshi, since she pretty much started this whole thing," Hiniku said.

"I'll do it. If you guys want, I could supply you all with ammo when you need it. I have extra." Tenshi patted her jean pockets where more hearts were stored.

"Great," Kaze agreed. "So when we race out of here, we're going to be bulleted with countless hearts. Hearts that we can use at a later time. Did you guys hear all those hearts hitting the fort walls when we first got in here?" Seeing the girls nod, Kaze continued. "When we make a run for it, we need to grab as many of the hearts as we can find before running off. The last thing you want in battle is to run out of ammo."

"Ok. So on the count of three, you guys run." Tenshi stated. "One."

Sakura and Saitori moved to one side of the blockade, and gripped the cushion they'd push to release them from their fort. Kaze and Hiniku gripped one on the opposite side of the blockade.

"Two."

The girls' muscles tensed as they made sure their boxes of hearts were still in their pockets.

"Three."

BAM!

The girls pushed the cushions out and were automatically pummeled with ferocious hearts. Shrieking, and holding up their arms as they darted from the fort, they grabbed as many hearts from the floor and from the tops of the cushions. Saitori decided to use her resources by slipping out of her jacket and clenching it like a shield in front of her, candy hearts gathering in the creases and pockets. The boys didn't seem to be letting up as the girls raced off to the many areas and regions of the dojo, scattering in different directions.

The boys stayed behind in the living room, discussing their plan, sending Tyson off first for some reason. But Kai noticed something. Not all of the girls had left the safe-haven. Only four had ran off, yelling. He stared at the girls' stronghold; only the wall in front and back were still standing, the ceiling threatening to cave in at any moment, if someone didn't do something to stabilize it. Sure enough, in a flash, two pale hands had reached from one side of the fort, snatching a cushion that had been thrown to the ground when Kaze and Hiniku had came crashing out. The pair of hands pulled the large pillow upright and fit it back into place on the fort, from inside, then did the same to the other side. Yep. That was Tenshi.

Finally, the boys split up, silently pursuing the girls, hoping to catch them off guard with a surprise attack.

Kai decided to stay in the living room. Sitting himself back on the couch and crossing his arms casually, he sipped his hot chocolate and patiently watched the fort.

Meanwhile, the girls had stationed themselves at various places around the house, all where they could see at least on of the others and warn each other of a counter attack.

Sakura was staked out in the doorway of a bathroom, hiding in the shadows. From her hiding place, she could see Hiniku crouching under a coffee table in the next room. All was silent. So risking her cover, she peeked around the doorway of the bathroom to see if Hiniku saw anything that she didn't. Hiniku was facedown under the table, her bronze eyes darting around for the "enemy". At length, she saw Sakura peeking around the corner of her hiding place, looking at her. She gave her the thumbs-up sign, letting her know that there was no sign of…. Suddenly, Hiniku's eyes widened and her face darkened. She frantically pointed past Sakura before she, herself, was pummeled by a cluster of Sweethearts. Sakura, worried for her friend, forgot all about Hiniku's last minute signal and was hit from behind by a multitude of hearts. A chuckle was all that was heard as Sakura ducked back inside the open bathroom. Sticking her head from around the corner when she risked it again, she didn't see anyone.

So turning again, Sakura spotted Tala as he smirked down at Hiniku as she scrambled to retreat from her no-longer hiding place. Then all of a sudden, there was a BAM! And an 'OW!' Hiniku emerged from under the table, clutching her head. As Tala reached to help the girl up, Sakura grabbed a handful of hearts and chucked them at the tall redhead. Tala froze, then whipped around, lashing a fist of hearts at her. As Hiniku went to back her teammate up, she too was hit with a flock of candies. Both girls turned and saw that Rei had appeared from around the corner of the hall and was siding with Tala. The girls reached to snatch hearts from their pockets, but…they were empty. Looking up at the boys with widened eyes, they saw that they still had leftover hearts within their boxes. Sakura looked toward the living room where Tenshi was hidden under the fort of cushions, and realized she was too far away to get more ammo.

"Crap," both girls muttered as they began backing up, the boys taking a step toward them with triumphant smiles.

In the other side of the house, Kaze was hidden behind a big comfy chair, listening for any sign of the boys approaching. From where she crouched, she could clearly see the cabinet where her curly-haired friend was concealed. As if knowing Kaze was looking in her direction, Saitori peered out from inside the cabinet, the door squeaking as it cracked open. Kaze nodded in her direction to acknowledge her, then her eyes darted around as she saw a shadow pass the chair. Suddenly, she was rained down upon by a bunch of Sweethearts. Looking up, she saw Max's grinning face.

"Found you!" he said victoriously. Kaze's eyes bulged as she raced to leave her hiding place, reaching for her back pocket where her hearts…were…stored? She looked down and saw that her box wasn't in her pocket, where she'd left it. She glanced back as she ran away from her pursuer, and saw her box on the floor, behind the chair, Max guarding it. Panicking, Kaze raced into the living room where Tenshi was crouched under her wall of cushions.

"Ammo, Tenshi!" Kaze sped past the fort as a box of the candies flew up from one of the spaces between two cushions. But just as she reached for the airborne box, a heart bulleted from out of nowhere and knocked it out of range. Diving for it, Kaze ended up tripping over a cushion and landing facedown on the floor.

Saitori, seeing this, leaped out of her cabinet hideout and raced to the living room, then skidded to a stop. She saw Kai, seated on the couch, looking at her over the rim of his hot chocolate mug, as if saying, "Just try it."

She took a step back into the hall and turned. And saw both Miguel and Max blocking her way out. Saitori was surrounded. The two boys started walking forward, making Saitori back up. Unfortunately, she was known to not have the best peripheral vision in the world. So…BAM! She tripped over Kaze's leg, who was still sprawled on the floor. By now, Tenshi had emerged from her fort and was staring at her two teammates spread in front of the barricade. Looking to her right, the blue-banged teen saw Hiniku and Sakura backing slowly into the living room as Rei and Tala strode forward. And as suddenly as the other two, the girls were flat on the floor as well.

The boys gathered around the girls with yeah-we-won faces and finally Kai stood saying, "Ok, Tyson." The girls looked up and watched a big, brown, hairy thing being pushed through the entrance of the living room. The girls' eyes bulged as the thing appeared before them. All of them sprang up, staring at a big, huge, TEDDY BEAR!

"Happy Valentine's day!" the boys said with grins.

"Whoa!" Kaze jumped. "And it was in-sync, too!"

And with that, the girls literally tackled the bear. Only it was so big that the tummy caved in, then ricocheted them all back. They erupted in a round of laughs, then repeated it, until the bear talked.

"Sure, don't mind me, the man behind the bear." And with that, Tyson appeared from behind the bear and sighed. Apparently, he was the one who dragged the oversized thing from the basement. All of a sudden, Tenshi glomped the navy-haired boy with a huge smile.

"You know I didn't mean the thing about the sour hearts, right?" Tenshi asked. Tyson nodded. "Good. But you have to admit, it was a great ice-breaker, huh?"

"Where the heck did you find this thing?" Hiniku exclaimed as she looked up at the bear with widened eyes.

"Ebay," the boys answered.

"We thought of surprising you all with it tomorrow, but we knew you'd probably find it," Tyson said as the blue-banged girl let him go. But the girls didn't respond. Instead, they continued bouncing off of the bear with laugh-filled glee.

Saitori grinned as the bear threw her back. She felt like a little kid again - not a care in the world. But as she landed on her feet from the airborne toss, she glanced over into the other room, looking through a window leading outside. And her mood seemed to die down. Saitori looked around at her friends. The boys sat down, watching the girls continue to tackle the bear, not noticing Saitori slipping out of the room.

Miguel couldn't help but smile as he watched the girls laughing. But he noticed something. Saitori was gone. Standing, he looked again, but didn't see the girl. He stepped into the hallway when the girls were out of the pathway, and looked around the lobby, still not seeing her. Then he noticed that the front door was slightly ajar. Sliding it open, silently, he slipped outside into the darkened night.

And then he saw her.

Saitori stood, leaning slightly forward on the deck's railing, staring across the street through the dojo's tall fence. Moonbeams highlighted the girl's dark hair, and a light wind tousled it. But she stood still, looking on. Miguel stepped up to the girl's side, his presence not startling her at all. In fact, it seemed like she was expecting him.

"Hey. What are you doing out here?" Miguel asked as he leaned against the railing beside her. "It's getting a little chilly."

Saitori still stared forward. "Just thinking," she said in a despondent voice.

He looked down at her, concern in his eyes. This wasn't the same girl he'd just seen moments before, laughing with her teammates. It was a totally different girl. "About what?"

She nodded forward, causing him to look across the street, also. What he saw was a black heap of ashes where a house should have been standing. Some crumbled walls still were upright, but most of it was in a big heap of burned rubble. As the wind blew, some of the ashes scattered. For some reason, as Miguel looked down at the girl, it seemed as if she had some type of connection with the remains of the house. He caught her eye, silently questioning the significance.

"That house…it reminded me so much of what mine used to be like." Saitori spoke, still not meeting his eye.

"Used to be?" Miguel asked carefully.

She nodded, looking down at the grass-covered earth in front of the deck. "When my family was still around." Inside, Saitori couldn't believe she was telling him this - even saying this much about her past to anyone surprised her. She still had problems sharing her feelings with her friends - and she'd known them, it seemed like forever. But, Miguel? She'd just met him today. How could she confide something like this in a complete stranger? What was wrong with her? But looking up at him, she felt that she could trust those clear blue eyes as they gazed unwaveringly down at her. She felt that she could finally let everything she'd held in, holding it even from her best friends, for so long spill out.

Finally, Saitori met his gaze, and he saw that her eyes had glossed over, though her face still showed no emotion. "They died in a house fire one night when I was only six."

Looking down at her, his eyes softened. Usually, he didn't really care about girls' sob stories. But this one…this one was different. She wasn't telling him to get his attention like many other girls tried to pull off. She honestly needed someone to talk to.

He wanted, at that moment, to be that person.

Saitori's face grew distanced as she remembered back. "My father was the last one I saw before he ran to save my mom and brother. He…cared so much about them that he was willing to give up his life to save theirs. Only none of them made it out." She took a breath and continued. "The small girl that lived in that house, last year, when we came to visit the Bladebreakers, reminded me so much of my own brother. They were almost identical in age. Both called me Tori-nee." Her gaze lowered again before she smiled sadly up at him. "You never know how precious something is to you until it's gone."

Miguel nodded silently. This girl couldn't be much younger than he - only sixteen. But yet, she'd experienced so much more than he. He didn't ever want to feel the way that she had let onto feeling about her family's death. He wouldn't know how to deal with such a tragic loss. He barely knew the girl - just meeting her on accident when their teams had arrived at the hotel. But now, it was as if he'd known her for his whole life. She wasn't hiding behind a smile, or laughing away her sorrow. She was totally disclosed from her normal façade, open and exposed, with no one to help her in her time of need.

As Miguel looked into those deep brown eyes, he wanted to comfort her. With all of his heart.

He reached to take her smaller body in his arms, but all of a sudden, his vest pocket erupted in a loud ring. He stiffened at the sound. The stupid thing totally ruined the moment. Looking up apologetically at Saitori, he reached into his pocket to take his phone out. Seeing who was calling, he entire body felt rigid. Miguel flipped the cell open to answer the call. He looked at the curly-haired girl as he put the phone to his ear. She was leaned back on the railing, her vulnerable look fading with every second that passed.

"Miguel, where the heck are you?" The voice on the other line caused Miguel to cringe.

"Claude…what a surprise," he answered sarcastically.

Over the line, Miguel could imagine his teammate sighing, frustrated. "You're with her, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about, Claude? And what's been up with you, lately?" Miguel frowned.

Claude laughed, no humor in his voice. "Sure. What's up with me - that's the question to ask." Irony was dripping from his voice. "What's up with you? You would never miss a practice, even for the world. And then you met that…girl." He ended his sentence with a lick of disgust, causing Miguel to wince at the poison in his voice. "If I remember correctly, you scheduled a practice session tonight, am I right? Well, it's 9:30, and still no show from our team captain."

He mentally recoiled. He forgot all about the practice on the agenda for the night. That wasn't going to go over well with the Barthez Battalion. "Claude, look. I'm sorry. I just got to Tyson's not even more than two hours ago. I had to get settled."

Claude just grunted in response.

"Hey. We'll practice tomorrow morning, all right? I promise. Seven-o-clock, ok?" Miguel asked.

"You'd better have a good explanation tomorrow. Aaron and Mathilda are so quiet here that it's scary. I don't know what's up with you and you're girlfriend, but you need to leave it off the field, because right now, you're letting it get in the way of our team. I won't let that happen, Miguel." And with that, Claude hung up.

Miguel stared at the phone for a second before closing it. His teammate seemed so enraged - something he was not used to. Usually, Miguel was the one whipping his team into line. And for some reason, he didn't like it the other way around. And one other thing: Saitori was definitely not his girlfriend.

Looking back up at Saitori, he met her eye, silently glad that he'd not had the phone's volume loud enough for her to hear. "Sorry about that. Claude has a tendency to be a little protective when it comes to our team."

She nodded, reassuring. He saw that she'd gone back to her normal self. "You'll be able to make it up to them tomorrow morning when you go to practice, won't you?"

"I hope." Miguel rested his elbows on the railing next to her, crossing his arms. "None of them seemed very happy with me."

Saitori smiled up at him. "They can't stay mad at you for long. I can't see anyone holding a grudge against you."

Miguel shook his head with a smile. It was amazing how much he'd smiled today - probably more in the past few hours than he usually did in an entire day. "Let's hope that's true. I don't want there to be contention between us in the meeting, tomorrow. A team stands together, not apart."

"Maybe you could surprise them with something for Valentine's day tomorrow." Saitori gazed up at him, her eyes shining as numerous possibilities ran through her head.

"I'll think about it." Miguel said thoughtfully. And with that said, there was a crash from inside as the bear was finally tipped over. The girls inside laughed as the boys all tried to lift the bear out of the way. They didn't want Grandpa tripping over it in the middle of the night.

Saitori looked back toward the door. "It sounds like they're getting read to go to bed. So," she let out a small yawn, "I'd better get back in there. We have a big day tomorrow. I don't want to be nodding off in the middle of my first BBA meeting." Miguel nodded as she began to walk back toward the dojo. But she stopped and turned slowly to face him again. "Sorry if I dumped a bunch of unwanted information about my life on your shoulders. You didn't ask for that."

He looked at her through his clear blue eyes. "But I never said I didn't want to know more about you." When he saw her puzzled look, he sighed and lowered his gaze. "It's fine."

Saitori looked up at him, cocking her head to the side waiting until he finally met her gaze again. She gave him a soft grin before saying, "I'm glad you decided to come with us. You're a nice guy, you know that?"

Miguel paused. "I try," his face softening at her gaze.

"Well, good night," she gave him one last smile before sliding the door open and slipping silently into the house.

Miguel watched as the door slid shut, then turned back to the railing. Leaning against it, he stared up at the moon with thoughtful eyes. This day had turned out better than he'd thought it would. He watched as a cloud moved in front of the pure white moon, so far away. The wind continued to blow, making the night seem cooler than it really was. As it mussed his blond hair, thought about his team. Why did he feel like he'd let them down? He hadn't even done anything…well besides forgetting their practice. But he had a good reason. If Mathilda or Aaron were to leave for the night for a good reason, he'd cut them a little slack. There was more to life than blading. Sometimes.

But some slack for Miguel? No way. He was supposed to be with his team every second of the day to make sure they all worked together and were making progress. If he left them for two hours, they seemed to go haywire - chaotic if he wasn't there. Didn't he need a break sometime, too?

But trying to justify it with himself didn't void out the feeling of guilt. Somehow he'd make it up to them.

As he resolved to do just that, his thoughts wandered back to Saitori. Even after just a few hours of knowing the girl, he felt bonded to her somehow. It was unexplainable. For years, he'd stayed within his circle of teammates, depending on them for friendship. But last year, the Winged Guardians had caused such a splash in the tournament. He noticed it, even though he'd barely gotten to know the team at the time. Now their new member seemed to have such a big effect on him. What was it about that group of girls that drew people to them?

Whatever it was, he admitted to himself, was appealing. And someway or another, the girl was growing on him.

…

The next morning, Rei woke to the smell of something burning. He dressed quickly and rushed into the kitchen to see if someone had left a burner on the night before. But what he saw took him aback.

Sakura was racing from one side of the kitchen to the other, turning off the faucet, grabbing a carton of eggs from the refrigerator, stirring something in a bowel, and flipping a pancake over in a frying pan on a hot burner all at the same time. She seemed frazzled and drained.

Rei approached her, an amused but concerned smile on his face. Reaching beside her, he turned the burner's heat down and closed the open refrigerator with his foot, getting Sakura's attention when he entered the kitchen. She set down the bowel she was stirring and faced the teen with a relieved sigh.

"I wanted this all to be a surprise, but I guess I got in a little over my head." Sakura tossed the burnt pancake into the trash can and put the pan back down on the stove. Rei reached to move the skillet off of the hot burner until she poured more batter onto it.

"I can see that," Rei answered with a smile. Sakura's hair was tied back in a ponytail as she toiled away, her only sleeve rolled up to get out of her way. Seeing how spent she looked, he took a spatula out of a drawer and flipped the pancake when it was ready, cooking the other side. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Sakura wasn't really looking at what she was doing, and was trying to scramble the eggs using a large spoon. He chuckled, then pulled a whisk out of another drawer, then went over to the girl.

Sakura looked up, startled, as he gently took the spoon from her hand. "You scramble eggs with a whisk, Sakura," he said with a smile.

"Right." She took the whisk from him and continued to stir the eggs whole-heartedly, laughing a little at herself.

Rei gazed down at her as she continued. "Are you all right, Sakura? Did you get enough sleep, last night?" he asked, care in his voice. She seemed to be tired.

"Yes. I'm just thinking about what's going to happen today. The meeting takes up a part of the day, and then I don't know what we'll all do after that." Sakura sniffed the air. "And hopefully I won't burn the house down!" She dropped the bowel of whipped eggs to the counter and raced to the stove, taking the pancake off of the frying pan and flipping it onto a plate. Rei reached to grab the whisk before it fell into the batter.

Suddenly, a plate and a bottle of syrup was thrust into his face. Rei looked up to see Sakura grinning up at him. "You wanna try the first edible one? I didn't poison it, I promise."

Rei gave her a grin to match her own and took a fork from the silverware drawer. Pouring syrup on the pancake, he looked up at her before taking a bite. Sakura watched him, expectantly. He chewed and then looked up at the girl.

"It's…" he paused, letting it savor in his mouth, "…it' really good." Sakura broke out in a wide grin as he took another bite. But she looked up at him through her cinnamon-colored eyes, making him meet her gaze. He swallowed.

"You," she said with a smile, "have a piece of pancake on your lip."

Rei's face reddened in embarrassment as he tried to lick the piece off, Sakura guiding him, pointing to her own face. But with no such luck, he couldn't get it off. So she reached up and wiped it off herself. He gave her a smile and reached up to take her hand in his own.

"Thank you," he said against her fingers, his golden eyes smiling down at her. Sakura felt her cheeks growing hot.

But suddenly, both teens sniffed the air and whipped around to the stove. Sakura had forgotten to take the pan off of the burner when she took the pancake off. The frying pan was sizzling, and a black spot in the middle of it was growing, nearly burning a hole through the bottom.

"Oh, My Gosh!" she exclaimed, racing for the sink, and pulling the hose faucet from its socket. Rei quickly turned the burner off and carefully moved the scorching pan from the hot part of the stove and onto another cooler burner as Sakura turned on the water, dousing it. The two were so busied in their almost-fire that they didn't see Hiniku as she passed through the kitchen and out the door into the backyard.

She wondered what the commotion was all about. But since Rei was in the kitchen, supervising Sakura's work, she didn't worry.

Hiniku paced down the back porch's steps and onto the lush green grass of the Granger's backyard. The morning was cool and bright as the sun shone down on her. Birds were singing and frogs croaking around the small pond. But there was also an unmistakable sound - the whir of a beyblade spinning.

Glancing around, she saw Tala, his back turned to her as he looked on, his blade dodging the rocks and souring over the bumps in the ground. He stood tall and upright, not missing a beat even as Wolborg landed in a patch of sand. In fact, the blade picked up speed, causing sand to fly, propelling Wolborg out of its trap. Tala's shoulders were held at attention, his focus intently on his blade. But this didn't mean he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.

So when Hiniku, from behind, muttered, "Show-off," he didn't jump like she wanted him to. This Tala guy wasn't easily scared. He just turned his head toward the girl, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes, as if expecting her. One of Hiniku's hands was held on her hip as she jokingly scowled at him. Her shirt was a deep red, a light pink cami under it - festive for the day, he noticed. He hair hung limply to her upper back, though one section in the front was pulled back, though her bangs still fell across her forehead, tucked behind one ear. Altogether, he thought, she looked very -

"Hey, I'm talking to you, Tala." She tore him out of his silent reverie.

He shook his head, turning fully toward her now. "Who are you calling a show-off, Shortie?" he smirked, playing along with her. Tala held his arm to his side, calling his blade back to his hand.

"Who else is out here, huh?" Hiniku asked with the raise of an eyebrow.

Tala slipped Wolborg into his pocket. "No one but me and you," he said. She noticed that outside, his crystal-like eyes seemed to reflect light at different angles. The blue in his eyes was barely visible now as the icy white took them over in pure sunlight.

"That's right. So who's the show-off?" Hiniku smiled prevailingly up at him.

Tala took a testing step toward her. "Are you challenging me?"

"Of course not." Hiniku said. "I wanna save my technique for the tournament. Is that fine with you?" she asked with a smirk. Tala shook his head. He knew that was what she'd say.

Hiniku let out a breath and dropped her hand from her hip. "The truth is, I'm a little worried about Saitori." Tala quirked an eyebrow at the girl. "She hasn't been acting like herself since we got here. She isn't as happy as normal."

Tala looked at her as if she was absurd. "Saitori, not happy? Are you sure you're not delusional?"

The shorter girl shook her head, frustrated. Was she the only one that saw this change in her friend? "She seems lonely."

Tala stepped up to Hiniku, and gently steered her toward the pond near the corner of the house. "How can she be lonely when she has a house full of friends?"

"I don't know." Hiniku walked forward. "Maybe I am seeing things."

"I told you that medication wasn't good for you. What have you been taking?" he said, a joking tone in his voice, though he put on a mock-serious face.

Hiniku whirled around, indignant. "What medicatio - Whoa!" The petite teen's foot had slipped on a rock by the nearby pond, causing her to teeter off-balance, toward the tiny pool. But just before she dropped face first into the tarn of cold water, she felt a strong arm catch hold around her waist, pulling her back to safe ground.

She stared down at the pond with bulging eyes, realizing that that was where she'd be if someone hadn't saved her. On that note, she realized that the arm had not left her waist. It was still wrapped tightly around her. Looking back, she saw that the arm was connected to Tala, his face looking down at her with a hopeless smile.

"Maybe you should stop worrying about Saitori and her 'unhappiness' and start worrying about yourself a little more." Then he wrapped his arm tighter around her midsection, pulling her closer to him. "Or maybe we need to start worrying about you more." With that, he lowered his chin to her shoulder, their faces inches apart, both looking forward across the small pond.

Hiniku felt her heart speed. 'We'? Did he really say what he thought she thought he did? She cleared her throat. "Um…we?" she asked in a stunned tone.

She felt the low resonance in his throat as he chuckled. "Yes, we."

As Hiniku opened her mouth to speak, the two heard the back door slide open. "Hiniku? Hey, where are you? We have to leave!" Tenshi called outside before returning back inside, not seeing them.

The two teens broke apart as they realized the meeting was going to start in less than an hour. Hiniku swallowed and looked back up at Tala, her bronze eyes meeting his crystal ones.

"You don't have to answer now." Tala gazed down at her, his usual cold eyes warm and affectionate. Hiniku nodded, looking down. For the first - or maybe second - time in her life, she found herself unable to say anything. She wanted to respond, but was unable to find her voice. Normally, she would have jumped at the chance of getting a boyfriend. But…she realized this deserved some thought.

The two walked back into the house, and were immediately hit by a roomful of noisy teens as they finished last minute preparations for the BBA meeting. Most of them were seated at the table, enjoying the breakfast made by Sakura and Rei. The burning smell by then had left the kitchen. But others, such as Tyson who'd just woken up, were racing around trying to find a clean pair of socks.

As Hiniku and Tala entered the dojo, both the girls and boys could tell something was different about the two. Tala actually looked chipper than normal as he said 'thank you' to Rei for the plate of pancakes. But Hiniku, on the other hand, looked withdrawn and lost in thought as she silently took her seat at the table. There was a hint of red on both teens' cheeks as they began eating the prepared meal.

Saitori looked at her friend from across the table. Something was up, she could tell. But she also knew some things are meant to be kept to yourself. So she kept her mouth shut.

…

"Are you sure?" Saitori asked nervously, he messenger bag slung over one shoulder, swinging as she kept up with her friends.

"There's nothing to worry about, Saitori," Kaze reassured her friend for about the fiftieth time that morning.

But even with all of her friends' support, Saitori's nerves did not calm. In fact, they only seemed to heighten as the tall BBA dome came into view. Countless cameramen and reporters crowded the entrance of the headquarters, hoping to get the inside scoop on the meeting.

As the Winged Guardians-plus-boys got closer to the building, a simple black car with tinted windows pulled up to the curb. Almost immediately, the media people gathered around the car, nearly blocking the door that was trying to open. A security officer hurried to the door of the backseat, trying to block people off as he opened it. From where Saitori was, she could see a shorter, pudgy man step form the car. He wore a black overcoat and a black hat covered his head. The man's head was bowed slightly, his face hidden a little, though Saitori could still make out a small pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. The man walked toward the dome's front doors, the police officer making a pathway through the crowd of reporters - though it didn't keep them from sticking microphones in their faces and pointing cameras at the man.

Finally, the older man reached the doors and disappeared inside. The media wasn't allowed to enter the building, leaving it a safe haven for the bladers. But it was getting through the microphones and reporters that freaked Saitori out. No way did she want to be harassed by the media like that man just was.

Pointing at the crowds of people, Saitori's eyes widened meaningfully. "I am not going through that."

"You don't have to. Look!" Max led the group to the side of the building where an innocent-looking door stood.

"We have our own personal entrance? I'm flattered." Tenshi said jokingly.

"Let's get in before those nosy reporters find out about this." Sakura looked over her shoulder before continuing to the door. Only Tyson stopped right in front of the closed door, causing almost everyone to bump into him.

"What's the holdup, Tyson?" Tala asked, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

Tyson leaned sideways against the door, one hand on the knob. "Now hold on a minute. There's a secret knock to let the security guards inside know to let us in. Let's see…was it 3 quick ones then 2 slow ones? Or was it 2 hard ones and 3 soft ones?"

Kaze looked at her watch. "Not to hurry rush you or anything, Tyson, but we don't have all day. The meeting starts really soon. It's embarrassing to walk into one of those late."

"Ok, ok. I think I've got it. It's 5 quick, hard knocks, and 7 - "

BAM!

The door swung open, causing Tyson to fly inside, sprawling on the floor. A security guard held the door open, slightly chuckling at the dazed, navy-haired boy. "Come on in, guys. The door was open the entire time."

"Thank you, officer," Rei smiled politely as he stepped inside the dome's lobby. Kai "accidentally" kicked Tyson's leg out of the way as he trailed in, Max trying to help the boy up.

"If there's one thing about you, buddy, you sure do make a big entrance." Max grinned, helping Tyson to his feet.

But Saitori, not paying attention to any of this scanned the lobby where all the teams waited before going inside the meeting hall. She felt so out of place here. People with tons more experience than her gathered around, anticipating what this meeting could be about. Until she finally saw a familiar blond across the room. As Saitori caught Miguel's gaze, a smile broke out on his face. He motioned for her to come over. She looked at his teammates who were standing behind him warily. But she saw that they weren't at all as mad as they'd been the night before. True, they didn't look thrilled to see her, but at least they weren't scowling at her. So Saitori scoured her way through the crowd of beybladers toward the Barthez Battalion.

"Hey." Miguel greeted as she finally made it to him.

"Hi," she said, carefully looking up at his teammates. Why did they seem so big up close?

"I used your suggestion. Taking your team out to breakfast on Valentine's day can sure lighten a mood," Miguel whispered to Saitori when he saw the surprised look on her face toward his teammates.

"So, they're ok, now?" she asked him quietly.

The girl barely saw him nodding, because looking up, she saw that the rest of the team seemed to respond to her low-volumed question.

"Sorry if we got off to a bad start, Saitori-chan. It wasn't right for us to judge you like that yesterday," Aaron said apologetically as he held his hand out in front of him. Saitori shook it, a small smile on her face, though she still felt a little leery.

"We look forward to blading with you this year during the tournament," Mathilda told her with a friendly smile.

"Thanks," Saitori replied, surprised at the warm greeting she was receiving. Finally, she looked up at Claude who'd not yet spoken. Miguel glanced at his friend. Claude saw his look, then turned his gaze toward the curly-haired girl.

"I'm sorry," the boy said with a sincere tone. "I hope we can start over."

Saitori grinned up at the boy. "Sure we can." She stepped up to the teen. "I'm Saitori Nishio from the Winged Guardians. Pleased to meet you."

Claude stared down at her, a slow smile growing across his face. He could see why Miguel seemed so much happier when he was around her. She had a great smile - it was contagious. "Claude Tavarez," he nodded respectfully at her.

"Ah. I see you've made your introductions within yourselves. How about I say hi to you all, now." The teens turned at the sound of the older voice. Before her, Saitori saw the man that she'd witnessed getting out of the car outside. His aged face was friendly as he looked at the group of bladers, a neighborly smile on his face.

"If it isn't the Barthez Battalion. How are you all doing?" the man asked in a warm voice, reaching to give the team handshakes.

The team seemed to quiet in respect as he spoke to them. As Miguel shook the man's hand professionally, he said, "Very good, sir."

Finally, the man turned to Saitori, his pleasant eyes upon her. "And you must be the new member of the Winged Guardians. How are you, Saitori?"

The girl gulped. How did this man know her name? But she shook his hand with a smile. "Great! I'm ready to see what blading at such a high level is like."

The man laughed, wise wrinkles gathering at the corners of his eyes. "I'm glad to hear that. It's quite exciting, isn't it, being your first time here at the world level, am I right?" Saitori nodded. The man turned his attention to the whole group of teens. "Well, I guess it's time to get this meeting started. I know you all have things planned for the day." And with that, the man turned and walked into the open hall, Saitori staring after him.

She looked up at Miguel. "Who was that, and why did he know my name?" she asked, eyes widened in alarm as the entire room of bladers followed the man into the hall where a long rectangular table was set up.

"That was Mr. Dickinson in the flesh," the blond answered, amused at her shocked face.

"Whoa…" she said to herself as she watched the man take his seat at the head of the long table, waiting for the rest of the bladers to come in. It seemed as if all those nerves she'd been feeling the day before added on to the ones she had today. Saitori swallowed as she looked on in anxiety. But all of a sudden, she felt the soft brush of Miguel on her arm as he began walking in after the other teams. He looked up at her as they touched. As he gazed at her through his smiling blue eyes, she felt her fear melt away. She could do this, as long as he was here - as long as they were together.

Claude watched as the two of them walked forward, side by side. He was amazed at how happy Miguel looked when he was with Saitori. Happier than he'd ever seen him in all their years of being friends, that's for sure. She seemed to bring out a gentle side in his friend - one he hadn't ever seen. Even as a kid, Miguel was always a little stiff, always staid. Miguel smiled at her when she said something to him. Claude hadn't seen that smile on his friend's face in a long time. Maybe Saitori was good for him. The blonde seemed to be so stressed lately, not that he was any help. As he watched the two enter the meeting hall together, he couldn't help but smile, too. He could let his team captain go for Miguel's sake. He wanted to see his friend happy.

…

Tenshi sighed again, peeking around the curtains in the front window of the dojo. Still no sign of her friend. Saitori had promised to be back almost a half an hour ago. Why wasn't she here?

After the meeting, the Winged Guardians had separated. Most of them went back to Tyson's house. But Saitori had wanted to leave to some store with the entire Barthez Battalion team. Surprised at her request and excited at her making new friends, the Winged Guardians urged her to go with the other bladers. Miguel had silently thanked them as he walked away with her.

But how long could a trip to the store take? Tenshi knew that trips to the mall with Hiniku or Sakura could take hours and hours at a time. But that was a different story. Shopping with three boys and a girl shouldn't take this long. And she didn't know Mathilda to be too into the clothes industry.

So as Tenshi stared out the front window again into the darkening evening, she couldn't help but wonder: where could Saitori be? _Miguel had better not bring her back injured or anything_, she thought with a scowl. She wasn't afraid to kick some butt for one of her friends. Even so, when she felt a tap on her shoulder, Tenshi jumped.

Whirling around, Tenshi yelled, "Kai Hiwatari! Quit doing that!"

Chuckling under his breath, the spiky-haired teen stuck his hands into his pockets. "Quit doing what, Tenshi?"

The blue-banged friend let out an exasperated sigh. "Quit sneaking up on me and laughing at me when I jump!"

Kai looked down at her, an amused look in his crimson eyes. Silently, he pulled one hand out of his pocket and placed it on one of her shoulders. "Ok, ok. Calm down," he replied in a soothing voice. "You don't want to die from a heart attack, or something."

"Oh, I bet that would make you real happy - knowing you killed a girl, using your stealthy footsteps." Tenshi turned back to the window in a huff.

"What are you talking about, Tenshi?" She could hear the frown in his voice as she stared out for her friend. "Why would I be happy if you died?"

Tenshi let go of the curtains but continued to look ahead. "I don't know: just one less annoying girl in the world." What was she saying? Tenshi knew Kai didn't really feel that way.

Kai reached to turn her around, his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him through defensive eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked, a slight bit of confusion in his voice.

Tenshi stared up at him. His crimson eyes bore back into hers, urging her to speak. Finally, she sighed. "I'm sorry, Kai. It's just…Saitori isn't back yet. I'm worried about her," she confessed, her eyes straying back toward the window.

"Tenshi, Saitori is perfectly able of taking care of herself. She seemed to do it quite well before she met you guys. Why wouldn't she be able to now?" Kai asked. The blue-banged girl shrugged, though her eyes still displayed anxiety. "Saitori may be the most fit to take care of herself out of you all."

This irked Tenshi again. "Oh, and you think I'm not able to last out in the world by myself?" she glared up at him. "I'm sorry, but must I remind you that I earned my black belt three years ago? I think I'm perfectly fit to take care of myself." With that, she whipped again toward the window, shrugging out of his shoulder-hold.

"I never said she was out there by herself. Miguel wouldn't let anything happen to her. He's a good guy."

Tenshi realized that this was saying a lot, coming from Kai. But still, she was upset. She didn't know why she was acting like this. Being with Kai usually calmed her. "Now you're talking about guys taking care of girls. Which is it?" She turned back to him, still frowning. "What would you say if I was alone out in the world?"

Kai looked at her through his honest crimson eyes. "I wouldn't like that very much."

"Why? Are you prejudiced against girls? Women suffrage is a very serious matter." Tenshi went off on a rant.

Still, Kai stared down at her earnestly. "That isn't the reason at all, Tenshi."

"Then why?" Tenshi asked him again.

And with that, Kai bent down and passionately attached his lips to hers. Tenshi's eyes fluttered in surprise, her heart skipping a beat, and a blush lighting her cheeks on fire. But as he kissed her, she felt her anger melting away, closing her eyes and leaning in to the kiss. As he broke away, he laced his fingers through hers.

"That's why," he said softly, gazing down at her.

But before Tenshi could respond, the front door slid open, revealing Miguel and Saitori. The girl was laughing at something as the two walked in. Sliding the door closed, Miguel flipped on a light, illuminating the entire lobby, leaving Kai and Tenshi squinting in the sudden light.

Tenshi looked up at her friend, glad to see her all in tact. But she wasn't so sure about something. The curly-haired girl was loaded down with chocolates, hearts, and balloons. "Jeez, Miguel. Do you think you went a little overboard, there?" she said with widened eyes.

"My team insisted on each getting her a present," Miguel answered, a slight blush touching his cheeks.

But Saitori didn't say anything back; she just looked at Tenshi, then to Kai, then down to their joined hands. Both teens saw this silent act, and a hint of red flew across their faces as the curly-haired girl grinned at them. Nothing was to be said.

Kai nodded toward the large hearts full of chocolate candies. "I wouldn't give any of those to Kaze or Max. They're way too hyper as it is."

Saitori tilted her head to the side, listening as the two mentioned teens broke out in hysterical laughter in the other room. "I understand," she replied with a nodding smile.

And with that, the four of them walked into the dining room. Kai and Tenshi led the way, side by side. Saitori came up behind her friend, making a really fake lovey-dovey smile at her. Tenshi shot the curly-haired teen an embarrassed scowl before continuing into the other room. Miguel, bringing up the rear, chuckled inwardly at the sight of Saitori's animated grin.

Meanwhile in the living room, Max, Kaze, and Tyson sat on the couch, wrappers of chocolate, bubble bum, and other candy skewed all over the coffee table before them. They leaned against the back of the couch, satisfied looks on their faces.

"Mr. Dickinson sure was nice to let us have all that leftover candy from after the meeting today," Max grinned, patting his stomach.

"Yep. I'll be on a permanent sugar high all night for sure," Kaze's darted from one side of the room to the other excitedly, before pausing on Max. She could feel the effects of the overload of sugar starting as her brain sped forward, 100 miles per hour.

The blond boy stared at her, the unusual crazed look reaching his eyes also. Both teens glanced around the room, stopping on the machine set up on the floor in front of the TV. The group of teens had found out today that this was what Hiniku insisted on dragging through the airport in a big, suspicious-looking bag. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

Kaze looked from the machine up to him with an excited grin. "DDR slash Karaoke?" Max's head bobbed up and down. Both teens jumped up, hooking the two machines up, and setting the mats on the floor. Turning the television on, the screen came up for the game of _Dance Dance Revolution_. The teens beamed at each other as they grabbed their separate microphones and stepping on the arrow-printed mats, waiting for the song selection.

Finally, they decided on a song, and the music started. All of a sudden, Tyson clutched his stomach with a moan, and ran to the bathroom. The two other teens laughed as he raced away. They told him that too much candy was bad for him.

Kaze and Max clutched their microphones, and got ready to dance as the TV speakers pumped out the music to "Heaven" - techno-style. Usually, dancing was hard enough without the singing part. But when Max and Kaze are on a semi-permanent sugar high…well, let's just say almost nothing's impossible.

Tenshi, Kai, Saitori, and Miguel gathered around the doorway to the living room, wondering at how in the world they were going to sing and keep up with the moving arrows on the screen at the same time. But apparently, it wasn't too hard for the sugar high duo as they started in-sync with each other, feet stomping down on the mats as the arrows showed on the screen. It was amazing really.

_"Love is all that I need,"_

From in the kitchen, Hiniku and Tala mixed a bowel of cookie dough as Rei and Sakura told them the ingredients. When Rei turned on the oven, Sakura pulled out a pan to put the cookie dough on. As the two turned their backs, Hiniku looked up at Tala, meeting his gaze. She smiled and silently took hold of his hand, pulling him outside into the backyard.

But Rei and Sakura stayed in the kitchen, too occupied in rolling out the chocolate chip cookies to notice the two missing teens. Sakura held a spoonful of dough out to the Rei, and he expertly rolled it in his hands, plopping it onto the buttered pan. Once the cookies were in the oven, Rei wiped his hands on his apron and turned to the oak-haired girl, a smile on his face.

"I have something for you, Sakura," he said.

Sakura's eyes widened in delight. "Really?"

He chuckled and nodded. Opening a cupboard, he pulled a large heart-shaped cookie from the shadows. Presenting it to her, he grinned.

"Whoa! You made this?" Sakura asked, taking it from him. Written in red frosting, it read, 'Happy Valentine's Day'. Looking up at Rei, Sakura's eyes stared warmly up at his. "It's beautiful. Rei, I - "

"Happy Valentine's day, Sakura," he said, taking her hand in his.

_"And I found it there in your heart,"_

Hiniku led Tala to the pond again, then turned to face him, a smile on her face. "Now, what were you asking this morning?" she asked, a sparkle in her cinnamon-colored eyes.

Her question caught him off guard, but he looked down at her sincerely. "I was asking - "

Hiniku held a finger up to his lips with a smile. "Yes," she answered. And with that, she stood on tiptoes up to reach his face, then planted a kiss on his lips. Tala's chest swelled as he heard her speak that word. It was true - everyone in this world didn't hate him. Somehow, he'd found someone that would accept him as he was. Sure she would chastise him if he did something she didn't approve of, but then she'd forgive him. He loved that. A forgiving heart held a lot of room for love.

_"It isn't too hard to see," _

After Saitori had seen enough of Max and Kaze's duet of singing and dancing, she silently slipped outside onto the porch, Miguel following not far behind. As the boy slid the door shut, he joined her leaning on the railing again.

"So, how was the meeting? Did you like it?" the blonde asked her as the two stared up at the full moon.

Saitori let out a thoughtful sigh. "Yes. It wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be. For some reason, I thought all the other bladers would be looking down their noses at me, the rookie in the room. True, some did, but you can't have everything perfect, now, can you?" She smiled up at him. His clear blue eyes reflected the pure white of the moon. He seemed content with her tonight.

"No, you can't. Not everything." Miguel gazed into her ebony eyes.

For some reason, when he said that, Saitori got the distinct feeling that tonight was goodbye. Her look changed from a smile to a downhearted gaze. "Miguel, when am I ever going to see you again? The tournament?" That was months away.

"I think so," he said, matching her tone. "I was supposed to leave home tonight with my team. But they decided to stay for one more night here in Tokyo."

Saitori stared at him sadly. "So this is our last time together before we'll be bitter rivals at the tournament?"

Miguel nodded, then looked back up at the full moon, his blue eyes clearly wishing for something. Finally, he looked back down at the girl, pushing off of the railing so he wasn't leaning on it anymore. "Saitori, something you said last night stuck out to me." Saitori's eyebrow quirked, silently puzzled. "'You never know how precious something is to you until it's gone' you told me." The curly-haired girl nodded, remembering. Miguel totally faced her, eyes shining, meaningfully. "I don't want to lose you, Tori. I don't want to wait until we've gone our separate ways tomorrow to realize that you were the most precious thing that's ever happened to my life." Saitori's eyes widened as she heard this, her heart fluttering as his sapphire eyes gazed into hers.

"That's why," Miguel said, pulling something from his pocket, "I want you to have this." He held a gold locket up to her. It looked like an upside-down teardrop, one side smoothly uneven where the other half of the heart should have been. Saitori breathed in when she saw it.

"Miguel, I…I don't know what to say," she stammered looking back up at the blonde with indebted eyes.

"Listen to what your heart is telling you," Miguel said in a hushed tone, reaching to drape it around her neck. "Will you be my Valentine?"

As he placed it around her, Saitori fingered the locket, and subconsciously stuck a hand in her jacket pocket. All of a sudden, she felt a familiar small candy heart that must have fallen into it when they'd been playing the Sweetheart fight the night before. She pulled it from the pocket and looked at what the little pink heart said. 'I Love You' it read. Looking up at Miguel, she grinned softly, holding the small candy up to him, showing him what it said. "Both of my hearts are telling me to say yes," she replied with a smile.

A gentle grin broke out on Miguel's face, his sapphire eyes shining in rapture. He wrapped his arms around Saitori, pulling her against him. Through his shirt, Saitori could feel the other half of her heart locket dangling from his own chain. She smiled and closed her eyes serenely. Tomorrow, the two might be considered the worst rivals of one another, but to them, that didn't matter. Inside themselves, and today, their hearts belonged to each other, each holding the other half. Hopefully, they both wished, that would be the case forever more.

_"We're in heaven."

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**Please make room in your heart for love, not only during the Valentine's Day season, but all during the year, too. Your families and friends deserve it if they have to put up with you. XP I hope you enjoyed this fic, and didn't get bored with it. Please review and tell me if it was all right, or if it was kind of corny. Either way, to me, it was a fun one to write.**

**Thank you.**


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